Last week, we almost ran out of "Official" Medifast foods when our shipments took a lot longer than we'd expected. I thought we could have a thread where we share other options to the official foods. I got the idea from the Sub Bar thread. Here's what I posted there:

I downloaded and printed out the Product Nutrition Quick Profile chart from TSFL.com. It shows all the nutritional info on thier foods by nutrition values. It's great! Here's the link:

I take it shopping with me and compare calories, fat, protein, fiber, carbs and sugar for all kinds of things. I've found several products I've added to our repertoire. For example: 4 Old London Brand "Melba Snack" crackers compare almost exactly in nutrition to the Medifast snack crackers, with the exception of 1 gram of fat. And they taste better, the Roasted Garlic ones are Yummy! And they aren't $15.50 a box!

Give it a shot, and let us know what you find. Maybe we can save ourselves some desperation and a little money, too!

No Prob! Anything that makes it easier for me, while sticking to my goal, is what I'm after. I'm 48 and struggling way more than I used to have to to get healthy again. I've made myself a Medifast 'Food Category' Nutrition Value Average chart that makes At-A-Glance shopping decisions MUCH easier for me. It might not be for everyone, but I figure if it helps me it might help others; and supporting each other makes it much more endurable! I'll see if the chart will paste here:

This is GREAT! Thanks so much for sharing. I've found the Whole Foods soy crisps to be very comperable to the MF ones. The key is to buy those snack size ziplock bags and pre-portion them out based on the nutrition guidelines. Delish with a small green salad or raw veggies on the side. Sometimes, I use the ranch flavored ones as "croutons"

__________________ Being skinny is not a goal, it is a result. My goal is to have more energy, enjoy swimsuit shopping, and actually WANT to have my photo taken

One thing about MF that drives me crazy is how long it takes to get an order! It always takes 7-8 business days between the day I order and when it arrives. It sure seems that they could speed it up a bit!

I looked at the range of nutrients in medifast products not including maintenance bars and it was calories 90-100, fat 0-3.5, carbs 9-16, fiber 3-6, sugar 0-10, protein 11-14, sodium 120-420
this helps when you find things that are at the low or high end of the rangetotals for all 5 meals should be : calories 450-550, fat 0-25, carbs 45-80, fiber 15-30, sugar 0-50, protein 55-70, sodium 600-2100, and 100% of vitamin RDA

its definitely a lot of work to figure out yourself, but its possible. I am trying to find products so I can have 2 MF meals a day and 3 replacement meals - I love the MF system but I am a single college student living alone and working full time so if I have to do extra work to save money I will!

When I did 100% MF and my shipment was delayed, nutrition support suggested eating 3 full lean & green meals and 2 snacks of 1-2 oz of protein or a glass of skim milk.

I have also used EAS Advantage low carb shakes and South Beach Cereal bars. I am using up what MF products I have left (they are expensive) and I am transitioning to Wonderslim (dietdirect.com) and the stuff is very tasty, same product used for Nutrimed and New Lifestyle. Only dietdirect.com sells it cheaper and 79$ get you free shipping and over 100$ gets you 10% discount.

I live in the western mass area and I always have my products within 48 hours of ordering. MF is a good program but the Wonderslim & Bariwise products are superior in taste and less carbs.

I appreciate what Medifast has done for my husband and me but the point is to get healthy, not brand loyalty. When someone "jumps" me on brand loyalty, I question thier motives and look to see if they benefit financially from keeping me(or others) on an expensive program. Most people have to watch a budget, especially right now, and it's about how to get the best results you can in a way that your budget can handle.

I appreciate what Medifast has done for my husband and me but the point is to get healthy, not brand loyalty. When someone "jumps" me on brand loyalty, I question thier motives and look to see if they benefit financially from keeping me(or others) on an expensive program. Most people have to watch a budget, especially right now, and it's about how to get the best results you can in a way that your budget can handle.

I totally agree with you. I also appreciate that I lost weight with MF and it is a good program. But I have now started to mix and match with Wonderslim. It is less expensive & I only have to spend 79$ to get free shipping. When I was on the Medifast boards & I saw people asking this question I always pm'd my response to them because there are a group of MF folks that get all snarky and insulting. Times are hard financially for many people and we all have to watch our money. I know I do. I have found good substitutes and I am using them. The Wonderslim & Bariwise products sold by dietdirect.com are less expensive, taste better, 10% discount on 100$ and free shipping. I WON'T pass that deal up. EAS Advantage shakes are a good substitute and I get them at Walmart. I also bought several box of South Beach ceral bars at Costco.

I am not loyal to any particular brand. I want the best bang for my buck!

I'm just posting here to see if anyone has any other input. Sometimes you are away from home longer than expected and need some alternitives. Does any one else have ideas for supermarket alternatives? Just cuious. I tried the South Beach Cereal bars and wasn't real kean on them. But we all have diffeent tastes, I know that. Keep the suggestions coming.

WE just got back from a month long trip in our RV, and it was very hard to stay on program without access to a blender and microwave! (The one in our RV just stopped working one day, go figure) I ate a LOT of bars and got really sick of so much sweet & crunchy! Yech!

But I discovered that 3/4 cup of Safeway's "Best of Egg" (Eggbeaters) is equivalent to a MF scrambled egg, and could cook that on the stove. And there are stove top instructions for most things on the MF website. http://tsfl.com/pdfs/resources/Mixing_Instructions.pdf Of course you have to have access to a stove or hot plate! Hotel rooms often have microwaves now, so that might not be a problem for you.

But we ended up eating small Lean and Greens throughout the day, kind of like being on maintenance. I actually lost weight still, although my rate of loss slowed drastically. At least I didn't gain anything back, TG!